August 30, 2016

Of Kaepernick, Trump, and unlovable America

Donald Trump, asked about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal on Saturday to stand during a performance of the national anthem [as a protest of minority oppression], says maybe Kaepernick "should find a country that works better for him."

Trump's advice is merely a variation of the old right-wing shibboleth of "America, love it or leave it," whose selective deployment has always fascinated me.

One is more likely to hear this trope when a Republican is in the White House; otherwise, under a Democratic president, America, for right wingers, becomes a bottomless hellhole worthy of the speediest abandonment. All is lost in this second of cases, and one might as well relocate to a comparative paradise such as Yeltsin's or Putin's Russia. Under Democratic administrations the far right repeatedly demeans, belittles, demonizes, trashes, and in general protests these United States.

This, in appropriate circles, is known as patriotism. Well then, are Kaepernick's seething protests not equally patriotic?

Even more intriguing is that Trump is the guy who keeps telling Kaepernick & Clan just what a bottomless hellhole their country is; indeed, it's a bottomless hellhole for every American. And since even Trump knows that we'll have no Republican president to recreate a lovable country in 2017, I find I must interpret his advice as friendly — not mean-spirited, as was the old shibboleth.

Comments

Donald Trump, asked about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal on Saturday to stand during a performance of the national anthem [as a protest of minority oppression], says maybe Kaepernick "should find a country that works better for him."

Trump's advice is merely a variation of the old right-wing shibboleth of "America, love it or leave it," whose selective deployment has always fascinated me.

One is more likely to hear this trope when a Republican is in the White House; otherwise, under a Democratic president, America, for right wingers, becomes a bottomless hellhole worthy of the speediest abandonment. All is lost in this second of cases, and one might as well relocate to a comparative paradise such as Yeltsin's or Putin's Russia. Under Democratic administrations the far right repeatedly demeans, belittles, demonizes, trashes, and in general protests these United States.

This, in appropriate circles, is known as patriotism. Well then, are Kaepernick's seething protests not equally patriotic?

Even more intriguing is that Trump is the guy who keeps telling Kaepernick & Clan just what a bottomless hellhole their country is; indeed, it's a bottomless hellhole for every American. And since even Trump knows that we'll have no Republican president to recreate a lovable country in 2017, I find I must interpret his advice as friendly — not mean-spirited, as was the old shibboleth.